Reality A Stretch For Risque Clan

September 8, 1999|By TOM JICHA TVRadio Writer

Fox is dickering to crash a 747 on live television. The idea is to present the contrived calamity as a "reality" special during the November sweeps. This twisted definition of what is "real" is helpful in putting into perspective the new domestic drama Get Real.

Real, in this instance, is a family spiraling toward catastrophe. How relevant and credible this real world is to viewers may be a matter of the functionality of their own families. If the characters seem overly close to home, turn off the set and talk things over.

Mitch and Mary Green begin each day with a petty argument, which the demands of their respective careers never allow them the time to resolve. Their bickering is so intense that the rest of the family finds relief in the relentless cacophony of never-ending kitchen renovations (think Murphy Brown's painter).

The children, each of whom contributes voice-over narration (one of this season's trends), have adolescent angst issues of their own. Megan, the oldest, has looks and a grade point average that is out of this world, which also is where her head is. She is class valedictorian and is being pursued by all the big men on campus but is interested in neither college nor a relationship. She has no idea of what she wants and is in no hurry to find out.

Megan must have temporarily stripped the family pool of intelligence genes. Cameron, who is next in line, is an accident not waiting to happen. He's reckless in every facet of his life. Of course, at his age, the opposite sex finds this ultra cool. Cameron takes full advantage. He beds a different mate every night. If the mood strikes him, he invites his date du jour to sleep over, to the exasperation of his parents and frustration of his younger brother Kenny.

Mary is livid -- Mitch only feigns concern -- but their kids' awareness that their parents had to get married costs her leverage when it comes to lectures about safe sex and responsibility.

The baby of the family, Kenny is dealing with the first stirrings of his own sexuality. For now, it's all fantasizing, no action. That Cameron is living his dreams only serves to roil Kenny's raging hormones.

The family unit recently expanded to include Mary's widowed mother Elizabeth, who has a Freudian world view: Everything comes down to sex. She advocates a roll between the sheets as the resolution of any spousal conflict. Her fondest memory of Mary's father is how he was "a stallion." She compensates for his absence by entertaining randy fantasies about John Glenn.

The concept is rescued from being merely a titillating, tawdry tease by two factors. In times of crisis, the Greens put aside their pettiness and selfish attitudes in support of each other, as "real" families actually do. Also, an appealing mix of veterans and newcomers invites an investment in the characters.

Jon Tenney and Debrah Farentino, who worked together on the ABC legal drama Equal Justice, have a believable chemistry as a couple who were once passionately in love and could be again if they could only find the time. Christina Pickles, as Elizabeth, adds the ballast of an old pro adept at maximizing a minimal script.

As Megan, Anne Hathaway combines Hollywood beauty and screen presence with girl-next-door traits. Eric Christian Olsen, as Cameron, and Jesse Eisenberg, as Kenny, look more like youngsters plucked from the school down the block than from a show business cattle call.

There are numerous time periods when Get Real could be the least objectionable programming and a guilty pleasure. Wednesday night at 9, home of ABC's imposing incumbent Drew Carey, UPN's cult favorite Star Trek: Voyager, promising newcomers The West Wing on NBC and WB's Roswell, plus a movie on CBS, isn't one of them. The probable reality for Get Real is a short flight before it crashes and burns. Probably before the 747.